I finally had my first fiddleheads of the season at New Morning Natural Foods. These are from the Ostrich Fern. Fiddleheads are a New England thing. I’m fairly new to them, my first try was two years ago from Chef Corey at Trinity Conference Center in Cornwall Bridge. Since then, I haven’t missed a season.
To prepare, I shook the fiddleheads in a brown bag, then removed the papery brown scales. I rinsed the fiddleheads in water. I dropped them into boiling salted water for a few minutes, then into an ice bath, and dried them out on towels. I used my default Italian method for cooking greens: sauté garlic in olive oil, then toss in the fiddleheads. Oh so tasty and high in vitamins A and C.
And I had my first asparagus this year. These were from Patty Popp’s Sport Hill Farm in Easton. Yummmmm.
Fiddleheading was a hobby of my grandmother. She had a secret location in northern Maine and would can them and distribute them to the family. Five days ago, I found a local source and plan to look around some more. There is a short window for harvesting them…
I’ve never had these before. What are they like? Beany? Spinachy? or more bitter?
Asparagus looks good. I’ve been to Sport Hill. Nice place.